What does "leg" mean?
A limb or appendage that an animal uses for support or locomotion on land.
Leg
/leɪɡ/ adj, noun, verb, slang
adj, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A limb or appendage that an animal uses for support or locomotion on land.
- Grammar: leg is listed as adj, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: stage, ambulate, ankle, appendage.
- Useful contrasts: arm, brazos, crawl.
- Usage evidence: I'll be about again when my leg heals.
How to use "leg"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "leg" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "leg" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "leg" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "leg" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "leg" is acting as adj, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "stage" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "leg", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A limb or appendage that an animal uses for support or locomotion on land.
"Insects have six legs."
- 2 Alternative spelling of leg.. alt-of, alternative, no-plural
- 3 a section or portion of a journey or course wordnet
- 4 In humans, the lower limb extending from the groin to the ankle.
"Dan won't be able to come to the party, since he broke his leg last week and is now on crutches."
- 5 (nautical) the distance traveled by a sailing vessel on a single tack wordnet
Show 31 more definitions
- 6 The portion of the lower limb of a human that extends from the knee to the ankle.
- 7 a cloth covering consisting of the part of a pair of trousers that covers a person's leg wordnet
- 8 A part of garment, such as a pair of trousers/pants, that covers a leg.
"The left leg of these jeans has a tear."
- 9 one of the supports for a piece of furniture wordnet
- 10 A rod-like protrusion from an inanimate object, such as a piece of furniture, supporting it from underneath.
"the legs of a chair or table"
- 11 a prosthesis that replaces a missing leg wordnet
- 12 Something that supports. figuratively
"This observation is an important leg of my argument."
- 13 a human limb; commonly used to refer to a whole limb but technically only the part of the limb between the knee and ankle wordnet
- 14 A stage of a journey, race etc.
"After six days, we're finally in the last leg of our cross-country trip."
- 15 a structure in animals that is similar to a human leg and used for locomotion wordnet
- 16 A distance that a sailing vessel does without changing the sails from one side to the other.
- 17 the limb of an animal used for food wordnet
- 18 One side of a multiple-sided (often triangular) course in a sailing race.
- 19 a part of a forked or branching shape wordnet
- 20 A single game or match played in a tournament or other sporting contest.
"A stunning performance from the Republic of Ireland all but sealed progress to Euro 2012 as they crushed nine-man Estonia 4-0 in the first leg of the qualifying play-off tie in A Le Coq Arena in Tallinn."
- 21 One of the two sides of a right triangle that is not the hypotenuse.
- 22 One of the two equal sides of an isosceles triangle.
- 23 One of the branches of a hyperbola or other curve which extend outward indefinitely.
- 24 The ability of something to persist or succeed over a long period of time. plural-normally
"This proposal has no legs. Almost everyone opposes it."
- 25 A disreputable sporting character; a blackleg. UK, archaic, slang
- 26 An extension of a steam boiler downward, in the form of a narrow space between vertical plates, sometimes nearly surrounding the furnace and ash pit, and serving to support the boiler; called also water leg.
- 27 In a grain elevator, the case containing the lower part of the belt which carries the buckets.
- 28 Denotes the half of the field on the same side as the batsman's legs; the left side for a right-handed batsman. attributive
";"
- 29 A branch or lateral circuit connecting an instrument with the main line.
- 30 A branch circuit; one phase of a polyphase system.
- 31 An underlying instrument of a derivatives strategy.
- 32 An army soldier assigned to a paratrooper unit who has not yet been qualified as a paratrooper. US, slang
"Which was lower than whale shit in the eyes of any paratrooper; it would have been a disgrace to be a leg."
- 33 A gesture of submission; a bow or curtsey. Chiefly in phrase make a leg. archaic
"Hickman came in, making his legs, and stroking his cravat and ruffles."
- 34 A column, as a unit of length of text as laid out.
"A leg is one column of a story. It has two legs if it is set in two columns and three legs if it is set in three columns. Avoid legs longer than 10 inches and shorter than 1 inch."
- 35 Synonym of leg up (“forming a step for a person's feet with one's hands”).
"The street was deserted. We acted quickly. Josiah gave me a leg. I threw my jacket over the broken glass […]"
- 36 An individual bet in a parlay (a series of bets where the stake and winnings are cumulatively carried forward).
"If one leg from your 2-way parlay pushes and the other wins, your parlay bet wins and is paid off as if it's a straight bet (paying -110 or whatever the odds were)."
Verb
- 1 To remove the legs from an animal carcass.
- 2 To build legs onto a platform or stage for support.
- 3 To put a series of three or more options strikes into the stock market.
- 4 To apply force using the leg (as in 'to leg a horse').
Adjective
- 1 Alternative spelling of leg.. alt-of, alternative, not-comparable
Antonyms
Example
"I'll be about again when my leg heals."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "leg"?
Common synonyms include: stage, ambulate, ankle, appendage, arm, assist.
How do you use "leg" in a sentence?
I'll be about again when my leg heals.
How do you pronounce "leg"?
Pronounced /leɪɡ/.
Etymology
From Middle English leg, legge, from Old Norse leggr (“leg, calf, bone of the arm or leg, hollow tube, stalk”), from Proto-Germanic *lagjaz, *lagwijaz (“leg, thigh”) (see it for more). Cognate with Scots leg (“leg”), Icelandic leggur (“leg, limb”), Norwegian Bokmål legg (“leg”), Norwegian Nynorsk legg (“leg”), Swedish lägg (“leg, shank, shaft”), Danish læg (“leg”), Lombardic lagi (“thigh, shank, leg”), Latin lacertus (“limb, arm”), Persian لنگ (leng). Upon borrowing, mostly displaced the native Old English term sċanca (Modern English shank).